Marriage Equality Bill Introduced in Minnesota

Five Democratic lawmakers introduced a same-sex union bill in the Minnesota state senate yesterday, the Star Tribune reports:

"A bill that would define marriage as a civil contract between 'two
persons,' rather than a man and a woman, was introduced in the state
Senate, sponsored by five DFL members. It has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but no hearings have been scheduled. The bill would strike language from state law that specifically
prohibits marriage by persons of the same sex, along with language that
refuses to recognize same-sex marriages from another state or country...In an apparent attempt to soften some opposition, the new bill states
that nothing in it 'mean[s] the state of Minnesota condones
homosexuality or bisexuality or any equivalent lifestyle,' or allows it
to be promoted as such in the state's public schools."

Opponents of same-sex marriage have said they will try to pass a measure declaring marriage between a man and a woman in 2009, even though two attempts have failed to get out of the legislature in the past.

Comments

What's the followup on Ken rhymes-with-pecker's email response? Did Shitbag ben Koering offer any kind of apology or was the matter simply swept under the carpet?

Posted by: Eric | Mar 6, 2009 11:37:33 AM

I only hope this doesn't finally give the religious right in Minnesota the ammo they need to move a gay marriage BAN into the legislature. We've been lucky so far that there hasn't been a ton of push from the religious right in our state - last thing we need right now is the Mormons or some other over-zealous group involved.

Posted by: scientitan | Mar 6, 2009 12:25:53 PM

CNN has a discussion about this up, featuring new comments from Koering and Dem. State Senator Scott Dibble.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/06/same.sex.marriage.economy/index.html

The comments that offended me the most were from some turd from the Minnesota Family Council who compared gay marriage to counterfeit money and subprime loans. Ack!